ALEXANDER: Tony Snell zooming upward in NBA mock drafts

LOS ANGELES — When Tony Snell first announced his intention to declare for the NBA draft in March, most observers pegged him as a mid-second-round pick, at best, and that was based on the hot streak he’d had down the stretch of New Mexico’s season.

Now, the former Riverside King star is being talked about in first-round terms. And agent Mitchell Butler, a former UCLA player and an eight-season NBA guard before changing career tracks, is convinced anything less would be a serious mistake.

Or worse.

“If he isn’t a first-round pick it’s a travesty and a shame on basketball,” Butler said. “The skill set he possesses, the talent he possesses, the measurables that he has for the position he plays, are all off the charts.

“And this isn’t the agent in me speaking. This is the basketball player in me speaking. I’ve competed against some of the best players to ever play the game, and I would say this kid has an opportunity to be very special at the next level.”

Snell, at 6-foot-7 and 200 pounds, knew this was coming.

“Even before the season started, he said, ‘I’m coming out after this year,’” said Marvin Lea, a former King High and Pepperdine player who, at 29, now runs the ELEAte Sports travel ball program and has been working with Snell since he was in middle school.

The game-changer for Snell was last month’s NBA draft camp in Chicago, where he opened a lot of eyes and set himself apart from the pack. He has spent most of his days the last two months working out in Los Angeles, under the guidance of Lea and associate Clint Parks.

“It’s been tough, but the hard work is paying off,” Snell, 21, said last week. “This is the closest I’ve ever been to achieving my goal. I’m going to do whatever it takes … whatever it takes.”

Snell’s college stat line was decent but not spectacular: 12.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, a .422 shooting percentage as a junior last season, with seven 20-point nights. He saved his best performances for the most important part of the season, averaging 17.7 points and shooting .515 during New Mexico’s triumphant run through the Mountain West Conference tournament and showing his ability to take over games. In the championship game victory over UNLV, Snell scored 13 of his 21 points in the final eight minutes, carrying the team down the stretch.

The numbers are less impressive than the skills and physical attributes. Snell, who played small forward in college but figures to be a pure shooting guard in the pros, has a wingspan measured at the draft camp of 6-11½ and a maximum vertical leap of 36½ inches.

And he has a confidence level that’s about to soar off the charts.

“His ability level’s always been there,” said Lea. “He’s always been able to shoot the ball, always able to handle the ball, probably better than any tall guy around. But now just the fact of him believing he’s one of the better dudes in the country is the difference from beginning to end.”

That confidence started to blossom during Snell’s year at Westwind Prep Academy in Phoenix, where Lea was an assistant coach. That season, alongside Jamaal Franklin — who ended up at San Diego State and is also in this NBA draft class — got Snell his scholarship from New Mexico.

“He was playing point guard, the first time he had the ball in his hands all game,” Lea recalled. “He played against Michael Carter-Williams (who ended up at Syracuse), played against all these guys from across the country, and he saw, ‘Well, I’m just as good or better than these guys.’

“He came to stay with me (last) summer for a couple of weeks, and he said, ‘This is going to be my time this year. I’m going to come out after this year. I’m going to keep working, and I’m going to make sure we win.’ That’s all he kept saying: We’re going to win. Next thing you know, New Mexico’s a top-20 team.”

And next thing you know, Snell’s a potential first-round pick — projected as high as the late teens in some mock drafts, though a number of others still have him as a second-rounder in the June 27 draft.

“When you look at what he brings to the table, what he’s capable of doing, it’s scary,” Butler said. “He could be the Paul George of this year’s draft if he gets with the right team, the right coach, who really digs into his heart and presses him to bring out all of his talent.”

Should that happen, he will be following the trail blazed by fellow King alumnus and San Antonio Spur Kawhi Leonard, who is about to make his first appearance in the NBA Finals this week.

“He’s a real big-time player, just unstoppable, and I want to be that type of player,” Snell said. “He’s definitely one of my motivations to get better every day.”

Evidently, Snell isn’t that far away.

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